How Rutgers turned an abandoned skyscraper into a luxury dorm

NEWARK --For decades, the cavernous building on Washington Street was one of Rutgers University's biggest embarrassments.

The 1920s skyscraper, built as the grand headquarters for a Newark insurance company, served as the home of Rutgers-Newark's law school. But, by 2000, it had grown so rundown, the school moved out and the building was closed up.

Rutgers-Newark held a ceremony Tuesday unveiling an $83 million renovation of 15 Washington St. The 17-story skyscraper was transformed into a residence hall for undergraduate and graduate students.

"It's just a success story at Rutgers," said Antonio Calcado, Rutgers' vice president of university facilities and capital planning. "It was in bad shape. We've literally breathed new life back into it."

The crumbling building was overhauled from its basement to its ornate cupola. About 233 graduate students and 100 undergraduates moved into the skyscraper at the beginning of the semester.

Though some of the furniture is still arriving and workers are still fixing some of the kinks in the building, the move-in has gone well, said Angelita Bonilla, Rutgers-Newark's associate dean of student affairs.

The luxury building includes studio and multi-bedroom apartments with kitchens and oversized bathrooms. Students also have access to a basement gym, yoga studio, study lounges and meeting spaces.

The vast, marble-lined "counting hall" where the insurance company's customers once paid their premiums has also been restored. It serves as a student lounge and event space.

Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor is scheduled to move into the building's two-story penthouse next semester. The 3,600-square-foot chancellor's residence, with sweeping views of Manhattan, will be one of the perks of her job.

The building, located on Washington Park between the Newark Museum and the Newark Public Library, was built in the late 1920s as the headquarters of the American Insurance Company.

The neo-classical skyscraper was designed by John and Wilson Ely, the same father-son architectural firm that designed Newark City Hall and the National Newark Building on Broad Street.

American Insurance was acquired by Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., which eventually donated the historic building to Rutgers. The university's Newark law school moved into the building along with other campus departments and administrators.

The skyscraper was renamed the S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice after the founder of Advance Publications, the owner of The Star-Ledger and NJ Advance Media.

The iconic building, with its marble lobby and column-lined facade, became a popular spot for filming movies and television shows. A scene from "The Sopranos" was filmed out front and the interior served as the fictional law school in the 1998 film "Rounders," starring Matt Damon.

But the building fell into disrepair, leading to protests from law students, who regularly got stuck in the notoriously unreliable elevators. In 2000, the law school moved out, parading down the street behind bag pipers to a new building.

Rutgers officials worked out a deal to convert 15 Washington St. into a Marriott hotel and conference center. But the plan fell apart after the hotel industry tanked following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"It sat empty for 15 years, essentially. There were a number of plans that never panned out," said Calcado, the Rutgers official overseeing the project. "Some of it was timing . . . Then, the stars kind of aligned."

Rutgers worked out a complex agreement in 2013 to partner with the New Brunswick Development Corp., known as Devco, on the project. Both Rutgers and the private, non-profit developer own parts of the building and pay for the $83 million renovation.